I grew up in Chicago in the late 1960s and 1970s. My parents, with my eight siblings and I, at times needed help with food. We received food from local pantries, often government surplus including peanut butter. Both my parents worked yet we still qualified to receive the free and reduced breakfast and lunch meals at school. I’m grateful for those food pantries and those school meals. They showed care which was an answer to our family prayer!

When I served as a pastor for 12 years in Crystal Lake, the food pantry was sponsored by churches that committed finances and volunteers. It started in 1982 in the basement of the Salvation Army Church and then moved into a stand-alone facility off Route 14 in 2007. In 2009, 65 percent of those who received food at that pantry in Crystal Lake had one person working full time in their home.

In 1982, Zion started a food pantry in the church. In 1995 it was moved to a “yellow house,” that was donated to the church, right next door. A pantry director was hired. Eventually, the house needed improvements that proved too costly. The building was torn down in 2011 and the pantry moved to Fifth Avenue near Sixth Street in 2011.

In October, our pantry coordinator retired. We prayed about what to do since we were no longer just a neighborhood pantry. We were spending 65 percent of our budget on fixed costs (salary, rent and utilities) and 35 percent on food. The Zion Outreach Food Pantry board wanted to provide food security for more people. The best way to do that was to discuss a merger with the Cornucopia Food Pantry, sponsored by Trinity and St. James churches. Cornucopia’s spends 65 percent on food and 35 percent on fixed costs, with no paid staff. They depend solely on volunteers.

Beginning Jan. 1, the Cornucopia Pantry on Market Street will be sponsored by Trinity, St. James and Zion. It has the support of many groups, churches and people throughout the area. This is an answer to the prayers of the people of Zion.

Prayer leads to care. Prayer is what the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s new presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton is calling us to do to end hunger. This was inspired by Pope Francis’ call to a global “wave of prayer” that started Dec. 10. People around the world are asked to pray to end hunger worldwide. A portion of Pope Francis’ prayer:

“O God, you entrusted to us the fruits of all creation so that we might care for the earth and be nourished with its bounty. You sent us your Son to share our very flesh and blood and to teach us your Law of Love. Jesus showed great concern for those who had no food – even transforming five loaves and two fish into a banquet that served five thousand and many more. We come before you, O God, conscious of our faults and failures, but full of hope, to share food with all members in this global family. Through your wisdom, inspire leaders of government and of business, as well as all the world’s citizens, to find just and charitable solutions to end hunger by assuring that all people enjoy the right to food. Thus we pray, O God, that when we present ourselves for Divine Judgment, we can proclaim ourselves as one human family with food for all. Amen.”

Page 2 of 2 - Let us all pray together this prayer as one family under God with “food for all.”

Peace!

The Rev. Dr. Michael E. Thomas is senior pastor at Zion Lutheran Church in Rockford